The Course of True Love Never Did Run Smooth
by spifferifikness
Summary: Ryan and Troy lived completely different lives. But when something happens between them at a party, what lengths will they go to to stay together?


**The Course of True Love Never Did Run Smooth**  
by MsRyanLover52 and spifferifikness

**CHAPTER ONE: Parties, Lice, and Pounding Hearts**

_(A/N: We don't own HSM, or any of the people in it… we can only dream. So don't sue us, please?  
Written in third person omniscient, if you care. IE: No one's point of view.)_

CHAPTER ONE: Parties, Lice, and Pounding Hearts

Troy found Gabriella at her locker, fixing her hair as she peered at herself through the mirror she had hung there.

"Hey Gabriella. That was some callback! The whole school was there."

"Yeah," Gabriella blushed, "You were amazing." She flipped her naturally curly dark brown hair behind her shoulder.

"Oh, and you were really something, too!"

"Thanks," Gabriella said, while continually turning more and more pink, "Plus, you won the championships, and we won the Scholastic Decathlon!"

"Oh! I almost forgot about that! Congratulations!" Troy said as he hugged her.

Gabriella giggled softly to herself as Troy let got. She could feel her knees getting weak.

"So, are you going to the after party with anyone?" She asked shyly.

"Well… I was thinking about asking the one person--" Troy started to reply as he was cut off by Gabriella.

"I'd love to, Troy!" She said, catching him a little off guard.

Not wanting to reject his new friend, he played along. "Uh, sure. Well, uh, let's go…"

Troy started walking down the hall to the front of the building, where his car was parked. Gabriella, while gasping for air because she was _so_ excited, quickly followed Troy to his car.

The pair got in the silver BMW as Troy started the engine. Gabriella got in the passenger's seat. She was still shaking. "I wonder if he notices…" She thought, "I hope not. Otherwise, he'll think I'm a freak or something!" Gabriella continued to ponder other reasons why Troy Bolton could think she was strange, as the pair drove towards Chad's house, where the party was taking place.

Troy was confused by the awkward silence hanging in the car. "Gabriella always has something to say!" The teen thought, laughing silently at his joke. Then he realized the two hadn't spoken since they'd gotten into the car.

"—nice." Troy said, as Gabriella snapped back into reality, leaving her chain of though at "…because I have ugly nails…"

"Uh, sorry?" She asked.

"I said, you look nice." Troy said plainly, trying to cover up the silence in the car. In fact, she did look nice. She was wearing her spaghetti strap red dress, which looked very good on her petite frame.

Gabriella blushed again at this and got butterflies in her stomach. "You look amazing too… as usual." She flipped her hair back behind her shoulder again.

Troy looked down at himself. He was still wearing his basketball uniform, just with the white sweat pants and white hoodie with the red stripe on the side, over his jersey. He hadn't done his hair, and he hadn't taken a shower since the game ended. "Whatever floats her boat." He thought to himself.

The pair finally reached Chad's house, where some others had already arrived. Chad (of course), his date, Taylor, Zeke, his date Sharpay (and of course, where there's Sharpay, there's always Ryan), Jason, with his date Kelsey, and a few other members of the basketball team.

Troy got out of the car, walked to the passenger's side, and opened Gabriella's car door for her. "He is soooo sweet." She thought to herself as she stepped out of the car, flicking her hair behind her shoulder as she did so.

"Why does she keep doing that? Why does she keep touching her hair? Oh god, I hope she doesn't have lice or something… I hugged her earlier! Now I might get it!" Troy thought and scratched his head, making a mental note not to touch Gabriella for a few more days.

All-in-all, the party was pretty fun. Gabriella continued to try her hardest to flirt with Troy, while remained completely oblivious, still wondering why she kept touching her hair.

"Maybe it's really dry, and she's trying to make it more oily…" He pondered silently. As he made a speech about the basketball team (he was the captain, afterall), Gabriella kept giggling and turning red. "Oh, god, did someone spike the punch or something?" He wondered as he finished the speech.

As the party was getting into full swing, Gabriella came up to Troy, and in an excited voice, asked him if they could talk.

"Sure, Gabriella, what about?" He asked her, picking up a closed can of soda. This way, he knew it wasn't spiked.

"Well… remember at the callbacks…" She started, biting her lip.

"Yeah…"

"Well, remember… when you sorta…" She whispered, "Um, kissed me?"

"Uh, yeah?" Troy responded, still not seeing where this was going.

"Well, I was wondering… if you were trying to tell me something… uh, maybe like… 'will you be my girlfriend?" She said quietly, blushing an incredible amount. Troy almost dropped the can of soda, but smoothly caught it before it fell.

"Uh, well… Gabriella, that was sort of a… 'Good job' kiss. A 'congratulations because we got the part' kind of kiss."

"Oh." Gabriella said, her face falling, almost losing all hope. But then she remembered something. "But remember? Then at my locker? You… hugged me?"

"Gabi… that was just a friend kind of hug. I didn't mean to lead you on or anything.

"But—" she said, trying desperately to think of one last argument.

"Gabriella, can I tell you something?" He asked, quietly, this time the nerves were with him. She nodded, and he led her to a corner of the room. Taking her hand, he slowly began, saying each word with caution. "Gabriella… I'm sorry, because, well, we can't ever be more friends…"

She yanked her hand away. "But why?" She asked angrily, almost yelling.

"Because," he said sternly, but then lowered his voice to a whisper. His voice was firm, but gentle. Staring in her eyes, he took a breath, and continued. "Because I'm gay."

Her mouth hung open for a second, and then let out a sort of moaning sound. "Troy, how could you? I… Wha… I can't believe…" She stared at him, making a whimpering noise, then regained her strength. "Troy Bolton, I never want to speak to you again! I can't believe you did that to me!" She said angrily, then turned on her heel and stomped off.

"Did what?" Troy mumbled, sighing as he watched her walk away. "Well, I see her lice are gone." He thought, turning back to face the rest of the room, as his eyes locked with another boy's. A boy about 5'7"with baby blue eyes, blond hair, and a love of hot hats. Troy waved coyly to Ryan Evans, as Ryan, while in is post behind his sister, timidly waved back, smiling.

Their eyes stayed on each other for a moment, Ryan beginning to blush, and Troy grinned. But suddenly, he broke the gaze to look towards Gabriella, who was being comforted by Taylor. He sighed. Looking back towards Ryan, he found the boy was now standing right next to him. Troy opened his mouth to speak, but Ryan started before he did.

"What happened? You and Gabi break up?" He asked in his sweet, gentle voice. Troy laughed.

"Did everyone think we were dating? We were never together. Just friends… the problem is, I don't think Gabi realized that…" Troy said, groaning as he watched Gabriella shoot him a glare from across the room.

"Ohhh." Ryan said sympathetically, "You two seemed so… perfect." This comment caused Troy to chortle again.

"No way, man… you see… I'm kinda, well, gay." He let out another sigh, then continued. "But she's acting like I lead her on or something! Well… maybe I did, but I was just trying to be friendly! Can't a guy be nice to a girl without being in love with her? Is that just so impossible? Oh, look at her Ryan. I feel so bad!"

However, the bulk of Troy's speech went unheard, as Ryan couldn't stop think about the first thing he said. Troy was gay! TROY was GAY! He had never though about dating Troy before, but now that he was available, it seemed like the most obvious thing in the world.

"Ryan… why are you grinning like an idiot?" Troy asked, breaking Ryan out of his thoughts. Indeed, a huge grin has slipped onto his face while he was celebrating Troy's newfound sexuality. His cheeks promptly began to redden.

"Oh, um… stretching my lips muscles, y'know, great for my singing. Sharpay'll kill me if I don't… you know Sharpay…" He grinned sheepishly at his lame excuse, but Troy didn't bother to ask any further questions. Besides, something like that would not be beyond Sharpay.

"What do I do, Ryan?" Troy asked, looking towards the boy he had never even been friends with (more of enemies, really), and suddenly found such comfort in those soft blue eyes. They stared into each other's eyes for a few seconds, until Ryan whispered,

"Kiss me."

Troy blinked, but without thinking twice, he leaned forward, pressing his lips against Ryan's. Slowly, arms were wrapped around each other, and then suddenly, Troy jerked back.

"I can't do this." He muttered, shaking his head. "No, Ryan, I have to go." And with that, he spun around and made his way toward the door, leaving the other guests bewildered at his early departure, and Ryan standing alone in the corner, delighted, but at the same time, incredibly confused.

Ryan slowly allowed his fingers from his shaking hand reach up and touch his lips. He couldn't believe it. He just kissed Troy Bolton. Troy _mother fricking_ Bolton! Suddenly, he was sucked back into reality. The music started playing in the background, and the people around him were back.

He stood bewildered, having experienced his own little world of Troy Bolton for the moment. Suddenly, he felt his face flush. "Gabriella." He though. He didn't want to hurt her. He didn't like hurting people, and he didn't want to become mean like his sister.

Ryan spun his head around and looked in the spot Taylor and Gabriella had been standing. "Shit… I wonder if they saw anything." All of a sudden, Zeke and Sharpay came over. Well, Sharpay was more of pushed over as Zeke vigorously made out with her neck, pushing her against the wall, as Sharpay looked up and checked her texts on her pink, rhinestone covered cell phone. Her gaze landed on Ryan as broke away from Zeke.

"Oh, um, hey Ry. What have you been up to? Isn't the party great?" Sharpay said, making small talk, slightly embarrassed about what just happened.

"Uhhhh, right. "Ryan replied, scarred from what he just saw. "Yeah, it's pretty fun. Uh yeah, haven't been doing anything in particular… nope, just socializing… you know me!" He fibbed, holding back the sensation of his tingling lips.

"Oh, well, that's cool." Sharpay replied, obvious that she was paying more attention to Zeke than Ryan's answer. "I think Zeke and I are gonna stay here for a while. You can go home if you wanna." She handed him the car keys. "Zeke will give me a ride home."

Ryan looked at Zeke, who was smiling like a buffoon, with Sharpay's pink lip-gloss all over his face. He then smiled at his sister, took the keys, and nodded. As Sharpay and Zeke walked away, Ryan sighed. "I wish Troy was still here." He silently thought to himself.

"What the—?" was all Troy could think. He didn't necessarily _not_ enjoy the kiss… he was just… well, caught off guard. And being caught off guard was not something Troy was used to.

He climbed into his car. Finally he was alone. "What was that?" He thought. "A kiss, right. But that was no ordinary kiss. I felt something… almost like… love. No, it wasn't that extreme. It was more like… passion, steaminess, sultryness… all I know is… I definitely felt something. Something different. Something… good."

Troy started his engine and pulled out, starting his drive home. "But did he really enjoy it?" Well, obviously, he only left early because he was startled by the whole situation. "And I guess I do… kinda, sorta, maybe, half like Ryan. I mean, he is cute! And apparently he likes me too. He was the one who suggested kissing, and then kissed me back. And he is a good kisser…"

Troy goy home and greeted his family, but for the rest of the night he couldn't think about anything but that kiss. That one kiss… well, only time would tell. However, Try, being the over-analyzer he is, kept replaying those 30 seconds of the party, from "What do I do, Ryan?" to his sudden departure, over and over in his mind. Troy fell asleep early, tired from all the thinking, imagining the first moment the two boy's lips touched, and he breathed in the moment until he was in a deep sleep.

_(A/N: Well, that was the first chapter! We want to know what you think, so please, PLEASE review! Merci beaucoup and muchos gracias.)_


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